National education at turning point

By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA 
THE NATION 

 

Athapol Anunthavorasakul

 

YOUNG PEOPLE’S ADOPTION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REQUIRES NEW PARADIGM: ACADEMIC

 

THAILAND’S education system will face additional challenges in 2018, including a requirement that graduates have a “growth” mindset and well-rounded skills. Teachers are also having to adjust themselves to new roles as their monopoly as the key source of knowledge lessens.

 

Education expert Athapol Anunthavorasakul said Thailand shared the belief with the rest of the world that the integration of technology into everyday life was central to the lifestyles of young people.

 

Because of this, “the old way of having teachers just passing on knowledge no longer works”, said the director of the Research & Development Centre on Education for Sustainable Development at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Education.

 

“Youths now require different skills, such as data verification, data selection for sharing, data production discretion and thinking skills. They will face more risks [in the current era] and must know how to make plans,” said Athapol in an exclusive interview with The Nation.

 

With rapid-fire changes affecting the economy, people can no longer rely on being a good employee for a business operator, but instead the “must have entrepreneurial skills too”, he said. And that requires changes to education to prepare the student.

 

With different ways of thinking and new skill sets required, teaching methods and education management must also change, he said. 

 

The new “self-directed learning” approach challenges students in Thailand, and throughout the world, to take responsibility and be accountable for learning by doing their own research and analysing data while also managing their own learning schedules, he said.

 

Among challenges for teachers and educators will be developing “executive” functioning in students to allow them to be their own masters by planning, organising, memorising, time managing and making sure tasks get done, he said. The importance of autonomous learning would become prominent in coming years, he said. 

 

Teachers meanwhile would take on primary roles as the support the individual students’ learning. Already, technological advancement has ended the centuries-old teacher monopoly on knowledge, and even younger children are fast learning how to digitally access information from sources, Athapol said. 

 

A Thai Education 4.0 agenda is already being implemented, though it has not gone smoothly. It would require students to produce innovations, think like entrepreneurs and have associated skills, discover knowledge on their own, work well with others and formulate plans.

 

To create such qualities, a different kind of learning environment is required, one where teachers serve as supporters to the students’ learning. That in turn requires training teachers for their new role in addition to developing their own techno-savvy skill sets.

 

The trend poses a challenge to the Education Ministry and the government as policy makers. Policy makers, along with those then executing the policies, must come to the same understanding to have a successful shift to new approaches in the classroom. In the past, teachers were still on the receiving end of instruction while schools had very limited independence in arranging study programmes that suited children’s potential, according to Athapol.

 

Recently introduced changes faced confusion, including the establishment of a provincial education committee. That raised the question about who has the authority and whether schools would in practice end up having to take yet more orders “from two masters” and so become even less independent. Athapol said the past two years saw the introduction of new policies contradicting and obstructing implementation of the new education agenda, and that has put a freeze on a more creative approach in the classroom.

 

Athapol welcomed the more positive changes, such as the government’s promotion of the professional learning community (PLC), which is a method to foster collaborative learning among teachers who form working groups for practice-based professional learning. “It’s good for schools to use PLC, as teachers can learn together about the job and what problems they encountered in classes,” he said.

 

As students have grown up along with Internet communication technologies (ICT), teachers must ensure that the ICT skills are put to useful and constructive application, including respectful interactions that develop respect for themselves and each other when interacting online, Athapol urged.

 

Other education trends include a focus on literacy and competency. A competency-based curriculum is emerging, along with teacher management based on competency and skills.

 

As learning can now take place anywhere and not just in schools, Thailand can learn from the success stories in other countries of providing supplementary lessons at home. Athapol said the Education Ministry must look beyond the classroom and have teachers provide knowledge as well as inspire students to learn.

 

“We often talk about passion, positive thinking and the growth mindset” – in which people have a voracious appetite for learning and constantly seek out additional input that increases their knowledge and constructive actions. “All these things must be instilled for students via the classroom, the school and outside, as well as through more useful school activities that are more focused and have closer ties to real life. For example, children in rural communities can have school activities focusing on agriculture so they can aid their parents,” he said.

 

Athapol said the new generation must have more skills, including ICT, and know about their own competencies and aptitude as well as their weakness. They need all of that because they will face fast and fierce competition in the working world. 

 

“The kind of work that would be ‘dead’ is probably newspapers which had problems in recent years and bookstores, which would be affected due to the drop in printed media. Many have now shifted to produce online content, but that also faces uncertainty in the next five years,” he said. 

 

Students needed to accumulate skills and competencies, embrace and adapt to changes, and be ready to step beyond a comfort zone, he said, and education and teachers must help them. “Teachers must adjust. If they do not yet realise this, the Education Ministry and state mechanisms must help them change.”

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30335146

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-01-01

Their heads  will explode trying to do all this.

The MoE has been at the turning point since I first arrived in 1987 and I don't see anything changing .....

16 minutes ago, gunderhill said:

Their heads  will explode trying to do all this.

More a question of how much money will be left when it arrives at the front line .....

16 minutes ago, geronimo said:

More a question of how much money will be left when it arrives at the front line .....

I'd  say it's  more the Thai mentality which will make sure this doesn't  happen.

1 minute ago, gunderhill said:

I'd  say it's  more the Thai mentality which will make sure this doesn't  happen.

If the right amount of money was spent on teacher training and active learning workshops, the Thai teachers would embrace it. the MoE have been saying the right things for decades, they know exactly what is lacking, yet sadly, the MoE is in a class of its own in many ways .....

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Other education trends include a focus on literacy and competency. A competency-based curriculum is emerging, along with teacher management based on competency and skills.

Plus the new road driving skills to be introduced,

so much going on, students and teachers will be busy.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The new “self-directed learning” approach challenges students in Thailand, and throughout the world, to take responsibility and be accountable for learning by doing their own research and analysing data while also managing their own learning schedules, he said.

 

Among challenges for teachers and educators will be developing “executive” functioning in students to allow them to be their own masters by planning, organising, memorising, time managing and making sure tasks get done, he said. The importance of autonomous learning would become prominent in coming years, he said. 

 

Although overly reliant on 'Buzz Words', this is essentially what the education system needs to become.

 

The problem is that it will never occur while the Ministry of Education is a stultifying wet blanket over the entire system, snuffing out any chance for independence of thought and/or autonomy. And without the ability of local institutions and/or individual schools themselves to innovate, there is little hope of achieving well-educated students who can function easily in the modern world.

 

As it is almost impossible for the institution that created this system (the MoE) to reform it, there needs to be a massive cull of staff out of the organization. I would identify the top one hundred staff at the Bangkok headquarters and the top five people in each provincial education office and fire them, today.

 

The equation is very simple. If a country has a good education system with a populace that can adapt to an ever-changing future, they will be successful. If a country does not have a populace that can adapt to an ever-changing future, they will not be.

 

Sooooo, does Thailand have a populace that can adapt to an ever-changing global situation?

 

 

I know an innovative school that does all of the above. The children learn by doing the activities that they are interested in. They don't have to learn topics they are not interested in. They plan their own lesson and project management whilst the teacher support them. There are no tests and no academic evaluations. Every child from the most academicly inept to the brightest child genius gets an equal evaluation with no winners and no losers. They are especially innotive in arts and robotics. 

The reason there are no tests is they can barely read, and do basic math. They cannot pass the most basic national test in core subjects.They are now accepted into certain universitis based on a portfolio system. The Thai system is based on the group. so those students are placed in a group that can pass the rigorous academic tests. The group carries the innotive students through. The innotive students then become engineers, dentists and doctors. 

It's scary. 

 a country that truly believes if they use promising new words,slogans and banners ,problems will be solved..if life were only that simple.....AMUSING THAILAND...

“With different ways of thinking”.........That’ll be the day!


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The Net has given Thai teachers a shot-in-the-arm.  My niece was given an assignment on Impressionist painters.  She spent hours cutting and pasting; I spent money on printing ink: the result was a glossy eighteen page document that received an A.  There was no helpful guidance/teachers comment.  My niece cannot name ONE Impressionist painter after all this effort. 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Education expert Athapol Anunthavorasakul said Thailand shared the belief with the rest of the world that the integration of technology into everyday life was central to the lifestyles of young people.

Because of this, “the old way of having teachers just passing on knowledge no longer works”, said the director . . .

Come on, teachers . . . wake up, or do you want Thailand to slip down to bottom of the international education ratings? You and your old-fashioned, lethargic approach have already dragged the country down to no. 54 out of 70 . . . are you proud of that?         It might help if the Minister of Education removed his head from between his legs, too.    He's still in the dark ages, but earning a king's ransom for sitting on a system that is doing, in a word . . . NOTHING.

18 minutes ago, mikebell said:

The Net has given Thai teachers a shot-in-the-arm.  My niece was given an assignment on Impressionist painters.  She spent hours cutting and pasting; I spent money on printing ink: the result was a glossy eighteen page document that received an A.  There was no helpful guidance/teachers comment.  My niece cannot name ONE Impressionist painter after all this effort. 

  Problem Based Learning... is a process...at first...

"With different ways of thinking and new skill sets required, teaching methods and education management must also change..."

 

":Change" is not a Thai concept. Even the rhetoric about change in education has not changed. Same spiel, same results. The education system was set up so that the populace will not have the ability to observe, assess the problem, formulate possible solutions, and apply the best one to solve the problem.

 

This way, it will be nearly impossible to question and change the power structure that exists in Thailand. 

Edited January 1, 20188 yr by jaltsc

My innotive thai teacher gave the students a choice. They could study and test 3 thai language  topics at one time. Leaving them time to do the things they like to do, or study and test each subject seperately. The entire class got below 50 percent in every topic. That score was recorded and effected their GPA. The teacher said it's the childrens fault because they made the wrong choice and it was unethical for her to redo the topics. 

The other grade 6 class, which studied each topic seperately all passed. Including the 3 mentally challenged children that ended up with a higher GPA than average to higher children. 

 

My child goes to an alternative learning school. 

70 percent of the score is project based and a personal opinion of the teacher. 30 percent based on standardised testing. 

My son scores in the top 3 for testing of every core subject and wins competition outside. 

Yet his GPA is lower than many of the children that score in the bottom tier. 

Student based assessment and learning is great for low level learners and students gifted in the arts. 

It is detrimental to high academic achievers and they are seriously effected by it. 

 

2 hours ago, greenchair said:

My child goes to an alternative learning school. 

70 percent of the score is project based and a personal opinion of the teacher. 30 percent based on standardised testing. 

My son scores in the top 3 for testing of every core subject and wins competition outside. 

Yet his GPA is lower than many of the children that score in the bottom tier. 

Student based assessment and learning is great for low level learners and students gifted in the arts. 

It is detrimental to high academic achievers and they are seriously effected by it. 

 

i ,and im sure others are curious to know what you mean by ''alternative learning school''...I am anxious to know if we as parents have some options as opposed to govt and international ....

The turning point for all this stuff was actually 10 years ago. That ship has already sailed. Working class Thais will come under increasing economic pressure from newly developing countries while the white collar set will continue to have to be shielded from international competition by protectionist laws and policies long into the future. The country's prospects are continuing to dim, but catch-up economic growth based on adoption of technologies and knowledge produced abroad will keep masking the underlying disfunction in the near term.

Edited January 1, 20188 yr by debate101

Does this mean they will be employing English teachers that can actually speak English?

 

The OP is far too long to reply to every wishful dream in it so I'll just let the emoticon say it for the whole thing.

x infinity

17 minutes ago, debate101 said:

The turning point for all this stuff was actually 10 years ago. That ship has already sailed. Working class Thais will come under increasing economic pressure from newly developing countries while the white collar set will continue to have to be shielded from international competition by protectionist laws and policies long into the future. The country's prospects are continuing to dim, but catch-up economic growth based on adoption of technologies and knowledge produced abroad will keep masking the underlying disfunction in the near term.

It's all completely pointless anyway. The OP ( or as much as I could bear to read ) said nothing about the imminent arrival of AI and the world changing problems that will ensue for all the millions of soon to be redundant workers. Not that that is something unique to LOS. No country anywhere is discussing what AI and robotics will mean to the masses.

I'll go so far as to say that, IMO, the only middle to low class Thais in the generation currently in school that will have a "job" in 20 years time will be farm workers, and even they will be losing out to automated farm machines eventually.

3 hours ago, greenchair said:

My innotive thai teacher gave the students a choice. They could study and test 3 thai language  topics at one time. Leaving them time to do the things they like to do, or study and test each subject seperately. The entire class got below 50 percent in every topic. That score was recorded and effected their GPA. The teacher said it's the childrens fault because they made the wrong choice and it was unethical for her to redo the topics. 

The other grade 6 class, which studied each topic seperately all passed. Including the 3 mentally challenged children that ended up with a higher GPA than average to higher children. 

 

Soooooo, the class that got below 50% will no doubt have their lives ruined because of a stupid teacher that shouldn't be allowed near real children.

The current "fad" for allowing children ( that know nothing about anything ) to decide what they learn is harming them. To continue to allow such idiocy is a crime, IMO.

 

The schools are required to teach about country, religion and monarchy. These subjects are drilled into the kids heads from day dot. As long as the kids can pass the various how Thai are you tests and pose for pictures then all is good. Nothing will change, don't expect the Thais to become leaders in computer programming and luckily for us all Thais already have the next generation of tuk tuk and taxi drivers in training. 

2 hours ago, mok199 said:

i ,and im sure others are curious to know what you mean by ''alternative learning school''...I am anxious to know if we as parents have some options as opposed to govt and international ....

You certainly do. 

It is called wangsawangjit school in rama 2. It's better than an international school imo.

Though it's all in thai, the actual learning is fun , project based and all the kids can think. It does not advertise but get students by word of mouth. The only downfall is there is no Mathayom and because it is project based, you must absolutely keep up their academics outside of school or your child will fail when entering the standard system. Pm me if you would like more info. Best school I have ever seen in Thailand. I would not waste my money at an international school. Way overpriced for the crap that you get. 

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Soooooo, the class that got below 50% will no doubt have their lives ruined because of a stupid teacher that shouldn't be allowed near real children.

The current "fad" for allowing children ( that know nothing about anything ) to decide what they learn is harming them. To continue to allow such idiocy is a crime, IMO.

 

That's what I said. 

How could you let children make a decision about something that would have a profound effect on their life.  because in Thailand if the GPA is below 3.5 in grade 4,5 and 6, you cannot even apply to test entrance in the good schools. It's like saying do you want to read a book or play computer game .but if you choose computer game you will not get a good job. 

Of course they will choose computer game. 

Children do not have the mental ability to calculate necessities of the future. 

That's why they have parents and teachers. 

10 hours ago, webfact said:

THAILAND’S education system will face additional challenges in 2018, including a requirement that graduates have a “growth” mindset and well-rounded skills. Teachers are also having to adjust themselves to new roles as their monopoly as the key source of knowledge lessens.

What is the Government saying; they are aware of the power teachers have over their charges?

 

Their monopoly as the key source of knowledge lessens? Who is or what is too become another source of knowledge?

 

I thought education took a change 3 years ago when the coup started?

 

The wording in this report sound odd. It conjures the thought there is another tier to come into place for education. Maybe the Generals are realizing the empowerment education has on the young mind, wanting to curb any blossoming of thought as to 'what can I do in the system'.

Makes sense. Availability of outside information makes brainwashing harder, truly need a "new paradigm". Something like the great firewall, the new buddies up north can help.

Millions of words spoken, trillions of baht spent on improvement of the Thai education system, yet no tangible result. So sad.

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